The present invention has particular applicability to the transaction terminal which is the subject of the copending application of Loren A. Schultz and Harrison J. Martell entitled Validating Transaction Terminal filed July 18, 1977 under Ser. No. 816,657.
Historically, transaction terminals evolved from the early cash registers. These were positioned within retail operations at the point of sale and provided the means for tallying individual purchases and for providing a consolidated listing of the items being purchased by a customer. The output of such devices often appeared in printed form on a paper tape, provision being sometimes made for internal storage of a duplicate copy of each transaction.
Transaction terminals constructed in accordance with the principles set out in the aforementioned Schultz et all patent application constitute a further significant improvement in the operating capability of such devices. The Schultz et al system is the first such system specifically designed to integrate the customer into the record keeping process of the transaction terminal. This is accomplished in part by providing means whereby the customer records his signature directly onto the output tape generated by the transaction terminal as part of each transaction customarily requiring it. Thus in connection with a credit sale or similar transaction, the customer's signature becomes a permanent part of each record stored within the transaction terminal.
The facility to record and retain the customer's signature as part of each record, for subsequent storage and/or processing through an associated computer, has obvious advantages. It reduces the cost of gathering and processing data, the amount of data collected and the probability of error occurring in the data. The provision of a single record, which not only records and itemized the elements of a transaction but which also embodies the customer's signature as a permanent part of the record constitutes a further important step in the evolution of transaction terminals, thereby advancing the state of the art from devices which serve a purely listing function to a device which incorporates into a single record all elements of a transaction thus in essence, effecting a complete recordation of a contractual relationship. In order to place this important improvement achieved by way of the Schultz et al system in proper perspective it has been demoninated as a validating transaction terminal.
Particular features of the Schultz et al terminal which enhance its use as a point of purchase device include the facility to provide a duplicate printed output statement of each transaction processed in the terminal. One copy of the printed output is available for the customer while the second copy is internally stored on a suitable take up mechanism. The stored tape thus serves as a record of all transactions processed through the terminal over a determinable period of time.
Since a substantial number of retail store transactions constitute a charge sale, the validating transfer feature of the Schultz et al terminal means the customer signature can be entered directly on to the printed output tape. Since the same information appearing on the customers receipt will also appear on the duplicate printed tape, to be stored internal to the system, it is necessary to insure that the plural tapes are conjunctively positioned as they leave the printer area and are advanced across the signature table where the validating action takes place. It is equally important that the customer's receipt be readily severable from the duplicate copy to be stored internal to the terminal.
It is in this connection that the present invention finds particular application in that it is necessary to insure that proper tension exists in the duplicate copy of the paper tape to be stored internal to the terminal so that the operator does not accidentially tear off the tape and remove it with the customer's receipt.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide an automatic tensioning mechanism for use in conjunction with the take up roll of a validating transaction terminal whereby a duplicate copy of the paper tape prepared in said terminal will be subjected to essentially constant tension notwithstanding the independently operative incremental stepping mechanism which functions to feed the duplicate paper tape through the work area of the validating transaction terminal.
To facilitate an understanding of the present invention it is disclosed in the environment of the validating transaction terminal in conjunction with which it was originally designed to be used.